1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of intellectual property management, and more particularly to systems and methods for managing intellectual property life cycles.
2. Background of the Invention
The field of intellectual property is vigorously expanding and evolving. Intellectual property has traditionally been defined as trademarks, patents, copyrights, and trade secrets. More and more, theorists are enlarging the concept to include “intellectual capital,” a term becoming well known in the field. For the purposes of this invention, it is intended that the term “intellectual property” (“IP”) has a broad definition comprising not only the foregoing definitions, but also including technology (e.g., hardware, software, computer programs and systems, training methods, methods of doing business) embodying the intellectual property, as well as the know-how and methods for using the intellectual property.
Corporations and individuals are scrambling as they try to convert intellectual property to revenue or otherwise maximize the value of their intellectual property assets. Some corporations are aggressively licensing their patent portfolios to generate revenue. Others are flexing their intellectual property muscles by enforcing their rights to exclude others from making, using, or selling technology that infringes on their intellectual property rights. Still others are using their intellectual property to gain access to markets that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive to enter. Furthermore, intellectual property may also be used defensively by its owner to protect its market share. Moreover, a corporation may donate its intellectual property to increase its public relations and obtain tax benefits.
Creating and leveraging intellectual property to generate revenue has become a priority for many corporations, particularly those with significant intellectual property portfolios. Unfortunately, however, intellectual property management has been done haphazardly by many corporations. Intellectual property typically has been viewed as an asset with a definite, useful life span. For example, once a patent term has expired, the patent is effectively declared useless, or figuratively speaking, dead. No further effort is made to extract further value from it.
Over the years, many companies have struggled with effectively managing the development and exploitation of their intellectual property assets, such as, for example, patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. For example, many of them do not file appropriate patent applications and copyright registrations in a timely manner. These problems are often exacerbated in large corporations where the decision making authority for addressing intellectual property-related issues is often splintered and not well-defined. Many such organizations, therefore, perhaps due to their failure to effectively manage and market their intellectual property assets, are foregoing significant value that could otherwise be generated from licensing selling, trading, or donating such assets.
Accordingly, no one has sufficiently managed the life cycle of intellectual property. There are a few systems available which enable corporations or individuals to track a portion of the life cycle or subsets of intellectual property. For example, Aurigin of Mountain View, Calif. markets a system in which patents and patent families can be tracked, such tracking being available for both a corporation's patent portfolio and those of its competitors. Computer Packages Inc. (“CPI”) of Rockville, Md. is one of several companies that market computer systems (e.g., computer software), typically used by law firms, for docketing domestic and international patent prosecution dates. However, these systems do not fully manage the entire life cycle of intellectual property.
Accordingly, there is a need for an integrated system and method for managing the entire life cycle of intellectual property development, marketing, and maintenance to be used by owners and/or managers of intellectual property. There is a need for an effective method for managing decisions and resources relating to the development and exploitation of intellectual property assets.